Social media icons

Intensive care units (ICU) and high dependency units (HDU) are specialist wards providing intensive care (treatment and monitoring) for people who are in a critically ill or unstable condition.

We have an intensive care unit at St Helier Hospital and a high dependency unit at Epsom Hospital. Although each is individually located and staffed, the approach is that of one team working together to provide the highest standards of care to patients and their families.

We have a total of 21 critical care beds, staffed by a dynamic, supportive and proactive team, influencing critical care for the future.

The units are multidisciplinary, admitting the more complicated elective surgical patients and all general, medical and surgical patients requiring intensive or high dependency care.

Epsom and Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust's Critical Care department is an active part of the South London Adult Critical Care Network.

Our vision

Our vision is to provide high quality, safe, evidence-based, compassionate care to critically ill patients within the Trust, and support those that care for them; both family and staff.

In line with Trust values, we aim to deliver best practice critical care in an equitable and timely manner with responsible management of human and material resources. We will utilise both the Epsom and St Helier sites effectively to achieve the best for our patients.

To achieve this we aim to build positive relationships and work collaboratively within critical care and throughout the Trust: promoting critical care as an effective resource for training and education. We wish to attract, inspire and nurture committed staff who are equipped with the knowledge and skills to deliver our vision.

Information for patients

For more information about ITU and HDU, including what patients and their loved ones may be able to expect, please visit the ICUsteps website (opens in a new window). ICUsteps was founded in 2005 by ex-patients, their relatives and ICU staff to support patients and their families through the long road to recovery from critical illness.

Understanding HDU and ITU

The below describes the difference between ward-based care, HDU and ITU In hospitals, based on three levels:

Level one - ward-based care: Patients do not require organ support (for example, they may need an IV drip or oxygen mask)

Level two - high dependency unit (HDU): Patients need single organ support (excluding mechanical ventilation) such as renal haemofiltration or inotropes and invasive BP monitoring. They are staffed with one nurse for every two patients

Level three - intensive care unit (ITU): Patients require support for two or more organs (or need mechanical ventilation alone). They are staffed with one nurse per patient and usually with a doctor present in the unit 24 hours a day.